The 2024 NBA Draft Lottery is less than a week away, with a handful of teams hoping to walk away with the coveted No. 1 pick.
In a recent draft that I published on YouTubethe San Antonio Spurs got lucky Tankathon turn, grabbing the top pick despite only a 10.5% chance, with the Raptors’ pick also passing down to No. 7.
SIMULATED PROJECT MONDAY
Last pre-lottery????: https://t.co/EtF5U9Hxsx pic.twitter.com/v0JDOn0G5Q
– Derek Parker (@DParkOK) May 6, 2024
To start the simulation, San Antonio grabbed Nikola Topic from Crvena zvezda in the EuroLeague. An 18-year-old point guard standing at 6-foot-6, Topic had some pretty incredible production in the ABA, averaging 18.4 points and 7.1 rebounds in 12 games, earning him a bid to the EuroLeague.
A knee injury cut short his season, but he has now bounced back to playing the role again in a big professional league with solid basketball feel, skill and improving game.
With the Spurs, Topic would function as a solid tabletop thrower for franchise cornerstone Victor Wembanyama, working his way to the ring in case the 7-foot-4 forward couldn’t get open.
At pick No. 7, the Spurs took Tennessee’s Dalton Knecht, a 23-year-old sharpshooter who led one of the best teams in college basketball last season. An average of 21.7 points per game is already impressive, but that doesn’t tell the whole story.
At 6-foot-6, Knecht is one of the best off-ball scorers in the class, gravitating toward space and coming off screens to shoot a lethal high jumper. With on-ball strengths in Topic and Wembanyama, Knecht could function as an auxiliary piece, shooting threes and scoring on the ball when needed.
San Antonio already won for the foreseeable future by grabbing Wembanyama last season, but surrounding him with good pieces in the 2024 draft is the next step in the process.
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